The disclosures herein relate in general to image processing, and in particular to a method and system for automatically counting physical objects.
For various purposes, it helps to automatically count a then-current number of physical objects in a particular area. In one example, for efficient operation of a building's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems, it helps to automatically count a then-current number of people in different rooms within the building (e.g., count with at least 80% accuracy). Nevertheless, high-resolution imaging sensors may impose substantial cost in hardware and power consumption. By comparison, low-resolution imaging sensors may fail to achieve a sufficient level of accuracy, especially if they fail to detect enough feature details (e.g., fail to count multiple people who are standing near, or in line with, one another).